Illinois just got punched in the face!

jcooper

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Jerry Cooper
Yesterday and today, pretty much a hundred year storm for IL. Expressways shut down, highways washed out, schools flooded, every viaduct in the city(chi) was under water.States of emergency warnings all over the place. Some places were getting an inch an hour at times.


Had to cancel a job(yes, she was pissed), couldn't get to them! Ended up staying close to home and helping out a couple local clients. Even my moms got water in her basement.

We got like 8 calls for water issues. Don't really do water damage, but it was very cool helping people that REALLY need it. I can see why people like doing wdr, well that and the $$$.

http://www.ktbs.com/lifestyle/trave...-rain/-/147454/19796338/-/jskgwv/-/index.html
"Wednesday was the sixth-wettest April day recorded at O'Hare. But that was just a taste: By 7 a.m., morning rain had already made Thursday the rainiest April day ever for Chicago."
 

Desk Jockey

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Thatz crazy!

I actually hate when that happens, too many all at one time.

Last time that happened we got 600 plus calls....and in two weeks processed only 120 or so....we left quite few people hanging but there was just no way we could do any more than we did. Plus as time went on, that last week was mostly demo, wash down and dry.
 
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tmdry

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Thatz crazy!

I actually hate when that happens, too many all at one time.

Last time that happened we got 600 plus calls....and in two weeks processed only 120 or so....we left quite few people hanging but there was just no way we could do any more than we did. Plus as time went on, that last week was mostly demo, wash down and dry.

600 calls and processed 120=than I could buy my own private island! one day one day!
 
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My old tech lance is almost there. He is working for serve pro. If anyone needs help let me know and I will pass it forward.
 

jcooper

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My old tech lance is almost there.

Any idea where he's going, I could have used a lot of help a few days ago. We don't do wdr, jobs could have been all him.
 

Desk Jockey

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600 calls and processed 120=than I could buy my own private island! one day one day!
Yea that part wasn't too bad I think we billed 300K just in WDR that month.

The negative and it's a big one is that for the next year or more I heard from countless people that had called but we could get to them. It was ugly, you market and market telling them to call you, telling them you will be there when they need you and then area wide flooding happens and you leave 500 people hanging. :cry:
 

Ed

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Couple of other influencing factors are the fact that the majority of these calls are un-insured due to their nature. Homeowner's policies don't include ground water flooding. You can buy an addendum for this, but it's usually limited coverage. People typically don't have the cash laying around to pay us to do this type of work, and if they do, you're a hero when you get there and a zero when you hand them the bill....no matter how well you estimated and explained the potential cost of this type of work. Also, it takes a lot of cash to produce at the level Richard is talking about. Techs don't work for free and every event like this we've had, we've had to purchase large amounts of equipment to keep up. We took 500 calls in a week when Irene hit up here. We were out of equipment within 24 hours. Our commercial clients were the 1st to call and that wiped us out quick. We did a lot of unfinished basement clean outs and pressure washes to keep the cash flowing.
 

Desk Jockey

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I like dealing with the insured, they are not clouded by the replacement option. If they are concerned about cost we let them do the light but tedious work, clearing of contents, book shelves and light moving. We can do what do best (tear your house apart) remove contaminated materials, wash down and dry. I don't think we got burned on any of those but we do a good job of screening and we took some late payments but I'm fairly sure we were paid on them all.

Yes as nasty as it may sound we took care of our clients first, with the exception of large commercial work. I agree from estimated to payment time, some people's attitude may change but we can always point back to the estimate and say we told you, should they complain.

We always collected some funds before we started unless it was commercial, $250.00 during regular hours $500.00 after hours.

Lots and lots of pitfalls, landmines what ever you want to call it. However if you watch your steps always look to cover you butt, be honest and communicate well with people there is still plenty of money to be made helping people out in their time of need.

The guys are all excited for the first couple of days then it wears on them and after a week we backed off to regular hours.

Fun times! :errf:
 

Ed

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Yeah, I guess I should clarify that the majority of the un-insureds have no problem paying if you give them a good estimate 1st, but there are always those (even insured losses) that grumble about payment when it's time to pay up. We have learned the hard way over the years. Pre-qualify as you said and collect money up front. You're too nice. We collect 50% up front. Commercial, we typiclly don't collect up front. We get better each event. I can't wait for the next one. I"m going to retire afterward:)
 

Desk Jockey

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LOL

I agree, once its over we analyze where we were short and make the necessary purchases so we are better prepared for the next one.
Retire? You lucky dog, I'm told I don't get to retire. :p

This is out of our crew leader training, answering the phone after hours, the Pitfalls:

Rain water....it's the worst!
<!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} b\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--> You may receive calls so fast you can’t call them back before Answer Topeka is paging you again. It can be very frustrating, they all want you there right now!

As hard as it is, we need to slow them down enough to find out the important issues with Rain losses.
Where did it come in from? Because if it’s ground water the bill is going to be paid by them!
Many times a homeowner assumes that since the basement is wet and they have insurance they are covered. Most do not know that their policy does not cover foundation seepage.

Has it stopped coming in? We shouldn’t go out until the water stops coming in. It just not cost effective to have us try to keep up with water that continues to seep in.

How big an area is wet? As cruel as it sounds, I’d rather do 1-big job, than 3-tiny ones.

We can send a crew out, we will need a signed work authorization and we normally
collect a check for $250.00, $500.00 after hours, will that be a problem? If they don’t have the cash offer Visa or Mastercard

Remind them that average water loss is $2500.00, it could be more depending on factors like: Deep Water– Means more is affected, dry wall, insulation, framing
Larger areas-Larger areas will most likely mean more equipment, thus more expensive.
Large amounts of furniture– Lots of contents means more time to move them, thus more expensive.
Contamination– carpet and pad that are Cat 3 should be discarded, which will generally increase the time spent on the job

We should not send a crew out if the water is still coming in!

Despite what customers want at the moment, they are always mad about the cost later when they get a large bill, because we were trying to keep up with water ground water.

Give them reasonable ballparks, they are generally going to be paying this out of their pocket unless it is covered under a sump pump clause.

When all hell breaks loose we realistically can not be everywhere, so we have to go to the jobs that: We have the best chance of being paid

Are going to best benefit the company (larger)

They are on Emergency Preparedness Plan or regular customer

Once you have all the available crews out, you need to tell the callers that everyone is out on water losses. Ask them if they want to be added to the list, if so get their information and add them to a list. This will give you an opportunity to cherry pick the best ones, this means you’ll have to be vague to caller about where they are on the list.

Try to avoid Sewage jobs in the first few days, they can be very time consuming, we can do 2 or 3-water losses in the same time it takes to do 1-sewage job.


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